Drifter
by Swiftstart
Summary: Everyone's got a story. Even Johnny Spirit. Listen to him as he drolls on bout just how he wound up in detention for so long and just how bad things were for monsters in the 'old days'. Some swearing.
1. Chapter 1

3,000 years? That's bull. School ain't even that old. I don't know how long it was but it sure wasn't that long. Goes to show that even immortals have short memories. If they didn't then someone would know how long I'd really been down there. Well, I sure don't know. My name is Johnny Spirit, and I like to think I have a long memory. My memory goes all the way back to when monsters were still underground. Times then were bad, and if you had claws or fangs, then those normies would make you wish you'd never been born. A bit of a cruel irony for those of us who started out normie and ended up monster.

You'd think that with all those vampires ex-normies are a pretty common thing. We're not. Mostly we're just hard to kill, and when you can 'live' for thousands of years, and a new one pops up every half century or so, well it can get to seem like there's a lotta you around. Most barely even remember what it felt like when their heart beat and actual blood ran through their veins. Anymore I'm not even sure I remember. As far as ex-normies go there's pretty much 3 groups: vampires, zombies and ghosts; blood drinkers, brain eaters and drifters. And out of these sorry faces the zombies are by far the most common, it's whether or not they're functional that's another story. The sort you get at Monster High are the minority; most zombies are totally mindless blood thirsty, well, monsters. The zombies at Monster High all for some reason or another held onto just enough self-identity to be well, the slow, moaning, zombies we know and love. After them in regularity are the vampires. And there's really only so many of them cause they're a pain in the butt to kill and they live for pretty much forever. Most aren't under 200 years old. After that, we have the ghosts. Me. We're the rarest.

See ghosts, we're funny. Most ghosts don't stick around too long; they spend a day or two moping over their lost life and then they move on. Those who don't well… it depends. Hate to be so vague but it's never the same from one drifter to another. Some search endlessly for closure, and then some just plain decide to stay. Then some… some lose their minds. Become poltergeists. Needless to say there's not a lot of us. And while we're the best rememberers, most forget what it meant to be alive.

I didn't. Like I said I have a long memory, I remembered my life. It doesn't matter now what it was like, I know now it was nothing special. I played a little violin, hung out with the boys, danced with the girls and I liked it. Then it was gone. Just like that. I got myself in a mess too big for me and then bang! I was dead.

At first I felt nothing; I wasn't even fully formed, not yet. I was just a mind on the breeze, drifting. I saw my own funeral, but didn't really understand what was happening, like a dream. I watched them close the coffin lid and drop me six feet under. I saw people crying and saying things like 'ain't it a shame' and 'he was always such a good boy' and all the while I couldn't feel nothing. And the more and more I felt nothing the more and more I started to feel something. It's hard to explain but it was like a fire got in my heart and grew and spread all over me, filling in my fingers and toes. Then it wasn't a dream, it was real. I was real. And I was dead. Oh my God I was dead. I'd died. I'd died and I didn't pass on. I was stuck. I was confused and angry and I was still here, not there. And the more and more I thought about how stuck and angry and confused I was, the more and more I formed until suddenly I wasn't just a mind on the wind; I was fully formed. I was a ghost.

I didn't know what to do or where to go. I almost went home but didn't. I didn't wanna upset my Ma. I wound up drifting instead to those places where all us kids hung out. To be honest I don't remember where I finally found everyone, but I remember looking through clear window glass at them all. They was sitting around talking, laughing, crying some. All my boys and girls, just having a good time. Were they talking about me? I'd wondered, pressing my hands and face up against the windowpane. Were they talking about me? I leaned in closer. Closer. Just trying to hear what they were all saying; too much. I fell through the window and they saw me. They all saw me. I laughed, getting to my 'feet', and said hi, I waved just trying to be all natural like, they screamed.

"M-monster!"

What? Me?

"Get it away! Get it away!"

"Someone call for Van HellScream!"

"Ghost freak!"

They were talking about me! They- my friends, were scared of me! I tried to tell them it was me- it was Johnny, I'm Johnny, but it was like every time I said 'Johnny' all they heard was 'monster'. It was a monster, it was a monster. I'm a monster. But no… no... I'm no monster, I tried to say, I'm Johnny... I'm… I'm…

I'm a monster. That's what they saw. It must be true. I wasn't Johnny anymore. Not to them, maybe not even to me… I realized I couldn't remember last name anymore, if that wasn't a sign I wasn't human no more then what was? I drifted aimlessly through the town, hiding whenever Van HellScream's monster sighting alarm bells went off. The sightings were probably because of me, the monster. Scared and confused as I was, I knew what happened to monsters if they got caught by HellScream and his men. I'd seen it. That 'trick or treatment' was no joke, and I didn't want nothing to do with it. So I hid. I had no idea where monsters were supposed to go; I'd heard they lived underground in some sorta catacombs, but that sounded crazy. How could all that be under the town and no one accidently fell in it or something?

So I sat up on some church roof, in the rain, and felt sorry for myself. Pretty typical behavior for a guy who's up and died, at least that's what I told myself. I didn't have anywhere to go. Didn't know anybody to turn too. And I didn't have a name no more. So what'd that leave me with? A sour personality and an intangible actuality. So basically, nothing worth writing home about. Somehow it never occurred to me that night that I coulda found my last name out just by going through the cemetery and finding my tombstone, I mean, I was basically looking right at it. I was on the church roof. But I guess even I'm not that morbid at my worst. At some point I decided it was time to get off that roof and go and find some monsters.

I was a ghost now right? So I could just drift down underground and since I was already dead it's not like I could suffocate or anything, so, no loss for me if it turned out that there were no catacombs. So that's what I did. I drifted. I drifted down and down. At first there wasn't much more than dirt and I started feeling pretty foolish but then… then there was space. Ok more like no space cause it was an opening or whatever, the point is, I found them. I found the catacombs. I mean granted at first I thought I'd found the sewers or some shit like that but then I saw them. The monsters.


	2. Chapter 2

The monsters. Man where do I even start? Before then I hadn't ever seen so many monsters in all my life. See, things were different back then. Monsters didn't just go shopping at the Maul or out for a stroll or none of that crap. Monsters were the things normies was scared of and sure as heck were never wanted around. You think things are bad now? Ha. You don't know shit. Back then monsters that were stupid enough to go above ground and out of the catacombs risked the trick or treatment. I heard bout what happened to that Hyde guy last Halloween, and not to make what happened to him sound like no big deal or nothing, but that sort of thing was pretty commonplace in my day. Monsters, when I did see them, were usually running to save their own skin- or losing it. So what I saw when I drifted down there, down into the catacombs, was well, terrifying.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it or try and act like a bigger man than I am or anything; I was freaking scared. I knew I'd see monsters but somehow I figured I wouldn't see so many or that the ones I did see would be like me: basically human and stuff. Boy was I wrong. I saw hairy monsters, multi-eyed monsters, monsters in every color and size; one was even on fire. It was crazy. At first I did my best to cling to the wall; which is hard to do when you're incorporeal, but then I started to realize that none of them cared bout me. They didn't try to eat me or hurt me or run and scream for that matter. They treated me like people. They didn't treat me like a monster, they didn't treat me like a monster. I was a monster but… but I was people too, ya know?

Once I realized things were cool, I started drifting in with the monsters rather than trying to avoid them and stuff. Pretty quick I learned the ins and outs of things. Turned out that underneath all of New Salem were these Catacombs, an underground monsters only city. Normies didn't know bout them, and if they were stupid enough to wander down into them then they regretted it, straight and simple. And while they weren't no paradise, the catacombs were safe. A monster could raise a family down there without worrying about them getting the silver bullet. Some monsters hadn't ever gone above ground even, they'd spent their whole lives in the wandering sprawling mess of halls that was the catacombs.

I quickly learned that some monsters wanted that to change, one Miss Bloodgood to be exact. Believe or not but Bloodgood was sorta young once. She's always been a total pain in the rear, but fact is she's a serious rule pusher and while she'd never admit it but she's probably one of the greatest assets to monster rights since well, ever. As for me, well… I'll get to that. Anyways Bloodgood wanted to do something crazy. She wanted to start a school for monsters, better yet, all sorts of monsters. See while lots of types of monsters lived in the catacombs, specific kinds tended to stick to their own districts. Vampires lived here, werewolves there, gargoyles elsewhere. If you thought normie-monster relations were bad, monster to monster relations were almost just as bad. Vamps and wolves just didn't mix, ya know? But Bloodgood, see, she was crazy. Not only did she want to make them mingle, but she wanted them to do it above ground- that's right. An above ground school. She's lucky she didn't get stoned or something for that kinda crazy. She was literally suggesting that monsters send their young next door to the chopping block. She only got away with talking bout any of it at all cause her Daddys so important, headless horseman and all that.

I remember she came to me specific, literally picked me off the street and asked if I'd want to do learning at this school she was wanting to build. At first I told her I didn't want nothing to do with it. But then well, she made me an offer I just couldn't refuse. See, while I'd been hanging round in the Catacombs and all that, I didn't have anyplace to stay. I'd been sleeping in alcoves and corners. Since I'm a ghost eating didn't matter, ghosts eat only for pleasure not for need, but it was rough. Not having anywhere to stay. I could hang out at the local theater and play violin whenever I want, but I couldn't spend the night there so it was no home. It was just a hang. I didn't have a place to call home. So I was getting chased from one doorstep to another, not belonging anywhere. Since we ghosts are so rare we didn't have a 'district' or a section like the vamps or wolves, and I guess most normally stay near wherever they died. So I was something of an oddity for those who knew stuff bout ghosts. I wasn't tethered to anywhere, I just drifted wherever. I'd been sitting on that night's doorstep, violin in one hand, and a half-eaten sandwich in the other. I don't know why I'd wasted good money on food. I didn't need it. Heck if anything it was a waste for me to eat it. It could have gone to some were-pup or something that needed it. It just… I dunno, it just made me feel more... alive? It was silly. Anyways I'd been sitting and eating when she came riding on over on that giant horse of hers.

"Johnny Spirit?" She had said curtly. I'd grimaced. Spirit was the last name I'd taken on. Since I didn't know my real one after all, whenever people asked for my name I'd just sorta tack Spirit on. It fit I guess.

"What'dya want?" I'd huffed, glaring up at this rich-lady looking all domineering like over me on that giant-ass horse.

"I was wondering if I might interest you in a project of mine." Bloodgood had said, getting off her horse.

"I ain't interested in helping you with your charity work lady," I glowered, taking the wrapper to my sandwich and tossing it a little ways out.

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not a matter of charity. I am starting a school." She'd replied all serious like. I remember I'd looked up at her like she was crazy or something.

"Sounds awful charitable to me." I'd said darkly.

"Well if it were a conventional school, then yes, it would be. Unfortunately it's the popular opinion that I'm actually doing the public a disservice. As a result, it is not an act of charity." Now I was interested, what was this rich-chick talking bout?

"Lady, what kinda school are we talking here?" I'd asked.

"One for monsters. Of all kinds. In New Salem." She'd replied simply.

"New Salem- what like in the main underground or-" She'd cut me off before I could continue.

"No, New Salem, above ground."

"A school above ground? Lady you must be some kinda crazy." I'd said, shaking my head back in forth in disbelief.

"Hence the fact that I am apparently doing a disservice."

"So what'dya want me to do with this?" I'd asked then.

"I was hoping that you would be interested in becoming one of my first students. At present we have only a small few from very ranging families, but I understand you started your unlife very recently and might be interested in furthering your education."

"Huh." I'd grunted, taking it all in.

"There would also be room and board available to those students in need." She'd added, aha. Bingo. That's why she targeted me. I had nowhere to go, and here she was offering me a place on a silver platter. And frankly... that silver platter looked good. Real good. Heck, I'd get to feel the sun again. And that'd feel more alive than just eating sandwiches that get mildewy from all the underground damp. Almost alive.

"Sign me up." I'd said, getting to my feet, and that was that.


	3. Chapter 3

For the first time in a long time, things were looking up. Even though the school was above ground and shit the normies didn't give us no trouble. My figuring is that they was too scared. They didn't know how many of us there was and that was our saving grace. They sure knew exactly where we was; when Bloodgood made the school she made sure to follow all the proper normie channels. She said that if we play by their rules then they'd have a hard time pulling crap with us. I guess when she was first setting things up she'd posed as a normie to get the paperwork through, or rather never said that she wasn't one. Bloodgood may be some rich paper pusher, but she's probably the smartest lady I ever met.

She built the school big. There was enough space there for maybe probably two thousand monsters, never mind the 34 of us. The first class, the unlucky 34 we called ourselves. Bloodgood built us out from a crazy mishmash of kids from the street like me and kids from crazy families like herself. I don't know how many of them are immortal returners to monster high or whose families are still in the school, but those were good times. The best times. Yea.

The biggest thing though was that for the first time since well, since I, well, since I died I had people. Just like the old days, I had my boys. I had friends. Ah man, there was Max Malice and Tom Purrkins And even though we was from all different walks of unlife, we were cool. Of the three of us, I was the only ex-normie, I was the ghost. Heck, I was the only ghost of the 34. Tom was obviously a werecat; he was a 'stray' kid like I'd been. And Max was one of them generic kinda monsters; he had purple skin and funny ears but other than that he wasn't anything too special, he was just Max. Gosh… Anyways we'd fang out and do all the normal things monsters do; we'd go down into the catacomb city after classes for a bite or just to hang cool ya know? Sure folks'd stare and whisper something horrible bout how we were 'Monster High' boys and would probably be killed in our schoolroom and all that sorta shit. But we didn't care. I didn't care. I was having fun for the first time, I was happy and, I'm not gonna lie, I was learning things and I liked it.

I remember when we had the first school dance. There was a lotta drama bout it cause of us 34 there was a lot more guys than gals if you would believe it what with all the ghouls running round now a days. But so that meant that some of us would be brining dates and naturally the below-ground folk as we unlucky 34 started calling them didn't like that. See the dance was gonna be above ground in the school. They was all like, sure, we don't care if you idiots get yourselves killed but don't go dragging our kids into it. I remember laughing bout it with Max as we walked down through the zombie district to her house. See, I'd had my eyes on this one ghoul by the name of Charlotte DeGhoul and funny as it may sound comin from me, I was scared to even talk to her. See, I knew what I thought of her but well, I didn't really know what she thought of me. And most people was scared of me. I got a mean face and a mean bark so they say. Max'd say it's all in my eyebrows.

I remember looking in the mirror before heading over wondering if it was in the eyebrows and if she'd be scared of me. She went to a fancy zombie private school too which meant that she probably didn't think too highly of Monster High either and really I'd only talked to her a few times when we'd go for food and stuff. She liked to wear the color blue and the sound of my violin, she said she liked Handel and asked me if I knew any. I told her no but I could learn and she'd smiled sorta sad. Most monsters don't play him, she'd said, all they like to play is Boothoven. And I knew what the subtext of that was: cause Handels a normie. I'd gone right to Bloodgood then and asked her if she could order a music book for me, violin, I'd said firmly, Handel. I didn't know nothing about who this Handel guy was or if he even sounded any good, but I knew I wanted that blue ghoul to smile. Silly right? Anyways Bloodgood was able to get it for me. And I learnt it. And now I was going to ask Charotte to the dance with Max as my wingman.

God that night… this is a hard one. So Max and I, we arrived at her doorstep and rung the bell and waited. Nothin. We rang again.

"Maybe they're just being real slow?" Max had suggested, "They are zombies after all,"

"Maybe." I'd grunted, violin case in one hand, cheap rose in the other. If my heart still worked it'd be hammering like no tomorrow. Something bout all this didn't feel right.

"Max," I'd said, glancing round me.

"Hang on, I'm just trying to get a look," Max had said trying to peer through the little barred window in the door. "I don't see nothing…"

"Course you don't, they ain't there. Or if they are they aren't coming." I'd said gruffly, moving to put that cheap rose back in my breast pocket.

"What you giving up that easy? Johnny I thought you were tougher than that," Max had said grinning.

"It's no good Max," I'd said all defeated like, "Even if I do get to talk to her it's not like her folks'd like her go. Above grounds dangerous. Specially for zombies cause they're slow."

"Johnny, Johnny. If guys gave up that easy bout girls all the time then there'd be no people left on Earth!" Max had said, I didn't comment on the unlikelihood of his statement. "Listen come on- I got it. Play your violin."

"What?!" I'd exclaimed, quickly dropping my voice down to an irritated hiss. "Max your crazy I can't do that- not out here, not in public and shit."

"Why not? Girls like broad gestures of affection. I know that fer a fact." Max had said all matter-o-factly.

"You read that in one of them dumb magazines!" I'd hissed at him, still trying not to raise my voice. My eyebrows probably looked real mean.

"So what if I did? It's true. Sides, why else did you spend all that time learning that normie song?"

"I- I…hggh." He had me there. "Fine." I hissed. Still glaring at him I opened my violin case, checked the bow string and taking a ghost's deep breath began to play.

The Handel sonata was definitely no monster song. It was too delicate and sweet: not anywhere near edgy enough to be the sorta thing monsters would come up with. It was frilly and fluffy and the music drifted down the streets and through the catacombs; probably everyone in the whole district could hear it. I'd never been so embarrassed before. But I kept playing anyways. Monsters stopped and watched and I slammed my eyes shit so I wouldn't see them. See normally when I play… normally when I played it was all by myself in that theater rehearsal space by that big old organ. No one watched me or nothing. I don't think anyone had ever really heard me play before then.

Truthfully the piece I was playing was supposed to be a duet, played alongside an organ or a harpsichord or something like that. Only I didn't know no one who played those and I wouldn't have the guts to ask them to play with me if I did. As I played I wondered if maybe, if maybe Charotte played and if that was why she'd asked if I knew Handel to begin with. Where was she? Had Max been right- did she come out? I didn't dare look. Instead I just kept focusing on the music; staying in time and playin a good tune. It was only when I'd finished that I opened my eyes.

Applause. Cheers. And mostly importantly, her. She was there. Charotte had come out of her house to watch. She came. And she was smiling ear to ear. My imaginary heart swelled up to something like 50 times it's size then as I looked around. People liked it. People thought I sounded good, she thought I sounded good!

"The dance Johnny, the dance!" I heard Max whisper in my ear. Oh right! The dance! That was the whole point of this thing. Holding my bow and violin in one hand, I reached into my breast pocket and pulled out the cheap rose with the other.

"Charotte- I was wondering if… if you'd…" Ah gosh what a sorry coward I was. Out the corner of my eye I could make out Max gesturing for me to continue. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Monster High spring formal with me." I blathered out in a single breath.

Her response seemed like forever to come, and all the world seemed like it had stopped while I waited.

"Yes." She said smiling, wearing that blue dress of hers, "Yes I'll go with you."

And that was the happiest moment of my entire unlife up to that point. Figures it couldn't last.


	4. Chapter 4

The dance! Oh man oh boy the dance! It makes me feel pretty stupid to admit how excited I was bout the thing, but man, the dance. It was all set up on the school's back lawn and was perfect. Just bout every monster in school showed up; even that weird normie kid Sparky or whatever had managed to find a date. Still not totally sure what he was doing at Monster High, but whatever… back to the dance.

It was a full moon out and the wolves were wild. The whole lawn had been lit with floating jack-o-lanterns and will-o-whisps. The school band played music I'm near positive would be too boring for monsters nowdays and they had food from near every monster culture. It was damn amazing and we was proud as could be to be Monster High kids. Here we was strutting our stuff out above ground and we came from all walks; from the rich vampire kids to the street rats like me. We could so anything, we were invincible. It was… it was something completely else and right bout then, if you'd asked me, I'd have told you that Monster High was the greatest place in the world flipping world.

"What's that dang peach-skinned normie kid doin here?"

I nearly spat out my drink when I heard those words comin out of Tom's mouth.

"Dang what now?" I'd asked him, thinking that for sure I'd misheard the guy. Our dates were inside; powdering their noses or some girl shit like that.

"You see him, Sparky, what the hex does he think he's doing? Hanging out here like he's one of us." Werecat's aren't known for being especially kindhearted sorts but this… this really brushed me the wrong way. Up to that point I'd just sort of figured they treated the resident normie the same as well, as everybody else. I mean, yea, I didn't totally get why the guy was there but I figured his being there meant that he was an outcast like the rest of us. That and well, I was a normie once. It maybe was getting harder and harder to remember but… I was. Once.

"What makes him any different from me?" I'd asked gruffly, hands deep in the pockets of my one good suit.

"What you talking about Johnny? The guys a normie. You's a ghost. You're a monster and he- he's not. Plain and simple." Tom had said laughing, then, before I could saying something more, "Ah look, the ghouls are back."

It was hard to enjoy the party after that. I mean, yea, Charotte was pretty as the moon and the whole school was glowing but I couldn't help feel like someone was tryin to both crush my heart in my chest and set it on fire. Was I really that different from Sparky? I mean, here all along I had figured that the only difference was that I died and he hadn't. I mean sure the guy was a freaking weirdo and even in life I probably wouldn't have been his friend or nothin but just cause he's a normie couldn't mean he was like tainted meat could it? Just cause the guy had a heartbeat and skin that wasn't some shade of green didn't mean he was night and day from me, did it?

Another break in the party. Ghouls only dance. I was frozen, stuck leaning by a tree; not on it cause then I'd probably fall through it what with the mess I was in. What was the difference?

"Hey, Johnny, you ok?" Slowly I'd turned my head and registered after a moment that it was Max who had spoken.

"I'm cool." I'd lied.

The purple kid laughed, "Yea right. And I'm a giant green dinosaur,"

I didn't smile at the joke.

"All right man, what gives? Did something happen with Charotte? No? Ah man was it Tom?"

He got me.

"Yea." I'd replied, not making eye contact or nothing.

"Mind explaining?"

"No." I retorted, before giving in and explaining bout Sparky and all that crap.

Max was quiet for a long time. Thinking I guess. I couldn't blame him.

"That's… rough." He finally said, running a hand through his course hair, "That's really rough."

"Any idea if Tom's got a reason to hate normies in particular- like was his family or-"

Max cut me off before I could finish: "Nah. First normie Tom's ever seen is Sparky there. He's got no personal reasons to pick with them. For him it's more just cause well, everyone picks at them ya know? And we both know Van HellScream…"

"Yea." I'd replied, my turn to be quiet for a bit. "I just thought that…"

"Maybe things were different now or something? Johnny, no offense or anything but your pretty new to all this. I know plenty of monsters who've lost family members or been chased from their homes by normies. Change ain't gonna happen over night."

"Well why can't it? Bloodgood-"

"Is doing a really great job considering what she's been given but whats she's making are just ripples, change like you want either takes time or needs something big like a wave."

"Sure. Whatev-" I was interrupted again, but this time it wasn't by Max. This time it was by a sound.

BANG.

Someone else had thrown a rock in and made a ripple.

"The hell was that?" I'd shouted looking out towards the woods where the bang had come from.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

Three more bangs, followed by the sound of loud angry bells ringing; like on a cart. A ghoul screamed and in horror I realized just what exactly I was hearing. Gun shots. Van HellScream's men and their Monster hunting cart. I remember trying to turn to run but I suddenly couldn't remember how to move; I wanted to use my legs but I didn't have none. In my panic I'd forgotten how to float. How to fly and get the hell outta there.

"Everyone make for the catacombs!" I'd heard Bloodgood shout over the chaos as monster kids ran in every which way; the floating pumpkins crashed to the ground and the will-o-whisps went out. Suddenly the full moon wasn't a beautiful creature of the night but a spotlight that highlighted every last one of us.

BANG.

Another bang and finally I got my body in motion, drifting desperately to get to the catacombs. Only I couldn't remember which was they was.

BANG.

Out the corner of my eye I saw a wolf girl go down.

BANG.

I could see them now; Van HellScream and his men. And they didn't look human to me. But they weren't monsters either. They were just masses of flesh with angry eyes holding big long metal sticks, did they think they was acting normal? Did they think they looked normal? The freaks probably did the freaking normies- the freaking… it was then I saw the truth. Normie wasn't just a slang term; it was a slur. It was a slur and it was freaking true. I hated them. God, I'd been one of them once? Really? Impossible. I knew then that I had to find my kind; monster kind, where were Max and Tom?

BANG. Drifting upwards I could see Tom making it down the tombstone-hole into the catacombs. The tomcat was all right. But where was Max? Where was-

BANG.

It was then I saw a purple body hit the floor.

"Max!" I'd screamed hurling myself at the normies. I was ready to tear them to bits. Only I didn't. I couldn't, I passed right through them. I tried again. And again. And again. But I kept flying right through them. Intangible. Useless. Powerless!

I was powerless. I was freaking powerless. I was powerless. I couldn't do anything. I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless. Max was dead and I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless. I was powerless.

And everything was red.


	5. Chapter 5

They found me a whole month later. Curled up, in the back corner of the big lecture hall, still wearing my one good suit. I couldn't remember nothing that happened all that month: just red. That's all I remembered. Red. I remembered seeing it. Feeling it. Practically being it- red. Bloodgood was the one who found me. She was also the one who told me what'd happened.

After Hellscream and his men shot up the dance the school was taken into the auxiliary classrooms down in the catacombs. A lotta students had gotten hurt; some because Hellscream, some from crashing into each other in the dark and in the panic and whatnot. Three students had died that night though. Three. They'd thought four when they couldn't find me, but I guess with ghosts you can never really be too sure. But point is, three of us were just… gone. Leaving only 31. We'd gone from the unlucky 34 to the very unlucky 31. And one of those three… one of those three was Max. The other two… one was the wolf girl I'd seen go down during the dance and the last one, honestly, I barely even knew his name. I'd never stopped to consider him before. Sure I saw him in the halls and in class and shit, I just, never put much thought to his existence until now. And now bang! He's gone just like that. Gone before I could put a thought to him.

The monster city had placed strict restrictions on going up to the surface. It was almost impossible even for the passers, them monsters that could pose as those freaking normies, to be given permission to go up-ground. Speaking of normies, that one freak, Sparky? Disappeared. Gone. Took his mad science crap and left. A bunch of the boys had trashed his lab. So he left. Saying something about only wanting a family. Like he'd find a family with monsters. Freaking normie. Anyways, it was probably cause of those restrictions that I saw so much red for so long. Ain't no one around to try and stop me. It was probably for the better, the way I was, I probably chased a whole lot of normie-freaks out of the school. Scared them away that is. Chased them outta my home. Cause see, what happened was, at least what Bloodgood says is, I'd gone poltergeist.

A poltergeist is a ghost who's lost it. Either cause they'd gotten really old and forgotten what they is, or, because they've become so filled with some emotion, anger or sadness or hate that they lose their sense of being. And they trash stuff. And that's what happened to me. I'd been so well, upset or whatever when Max… that I lost it. I went poltergeist and I… I… well I trashed the school. When I'd come to my senses finally, that is, when Bloodgood found me, I first thought for sure that the normies had done it. All the lockers were open with their stuff all over the hallways. The chalkboards written all over. Desks overturned. A few windows shattered. But then it quick became clear that it had to have been me- the writing was all in my hand and the only locker not touched was Max's. That and the word red. It was everywhere. Written on the walls. Drawn out on the floor in a mess of papers. It was even carved into the ceiling about fifty times over in the mad science lab.

I… I'd trashed the school. I'd trashed my home. I'd never felt more ashamed of anything in my whole unlife. All I wanted to do was to run away, hide up in the school tower, disappear under the Earth, drift away in the wind. Anything so that I wouldn't have to face the others, the other 31. But I didn't run away or hide. I went to class with the rest. About a week or so after Bloodgood found me they started moving classes back into the above-ground school. But we slept in the auxiliary dorms in the catacombs. And any events, whether it was a sports game …or a dance, were held below ground. To be safe.

I didn't go to see Charotte. She knew I was alive though. I saw her once, at the market. But I drifted away before I'd have to talk to her. It's not that I didn't want to talk to her… it's just that, well, I don't think I could deal with talking to her. Even then, I don't think her family'd want a proven good for nothing Monster High boy talking with her. The dangers of Monster High had gone from parlor gossip to actual news overnight. Now instead of us students being looked at as reckless idiots who're gonna get the trick or treatment we were looked at with a sorta sad scorn. A mix of I-told-you-so and if-only-it-wasn't-this-way. Every day after school we'd march down dutifully from the school to the auxiliary dorms, and every day we'd get that same look from other monsters. The moment they saw our pink and blue skull lapel pins, they knew. Only a handful of us left, dropped out, switched schools. And those were the minority. The rest of us, I dunno why, we stuck with it. Somehow… somehow Monster High would end up a worthy experiment.

Sometimes, in the dark of the night when I lay on my bunk trying to sleep, I'd let my mind wander into those dark places. Then I'd go back to pretending I could sleep or wishing that I couldn't, wouldn't sleep cause of what I might dream bout. But always, inevitably, my mind went there. My mind went to that flash of red. And I'd just lay there filled with… I dunno… hate. Hate for that night. Hate for those so-called 'normal' people. And I'd lay there and I'd think to myself, yea, one of these days I'll show em. One of these days I'll go out there and… and… do something. Yea. Something. And I'll make those freaking normies pay.

But then the red would fade, and I'd eventually fall asleep. Quietly ashamed that I'd ever thought of doing anything to hurt anybody, even a normie.


End file.
